Watch: Tennis Star Shuts Down Woke Reporter's Attempt to Get Her to Trash Trump
In the post-#Resistance era, The New York Times has had to redefine itself as a lifestyle brand.
When it’s not focused on stuff like a 45-minute recipe for buttery Gochujang tofu and broccoli or articles with titles like “Love Found Its Pace in a New York Walking Group” (story’s in the headline, really), it’s beefed up its offerings by adding tons of new games to the daily crossword, including buying Wordle and heavily promoting the (admittedly addictive) Connections.
In fact, as Adweek noted in a newsletter Wednesday, the inside joke in the industry is that the paper “is actually a games company with a side hustle in news.”
But don’t worry, Prius owners with “Not My President” bumper stickers: There’s still plenty of woke reporting coming from The New York Times Co. — including in sports.
So, for those of you who aren’t tennis fans and haven’t been paying attention to the Australian Open, a freelance writer with the Times’ sports site — The Athletic — has been going bad-viral for asking American players if they’re embarrassed to be American.
The writer, Owen Lewis, has politics that are obvious. His previous work has appeared in the U.K.’s Guardian (the British national newspaper that’s even more leftist than The New York Times) and Defector (a lefty sports site).
The most viral of the exchanges took place Thursday between Lewis and Amanda Anisimova, after the American’s win over Katerina Siniakova in the second round of the tournament.
“I’ve been asking a lot of the American players just how it feels to play under the American flag right now,” Lewis asked Anisimova, the No. 4 seed. “And I’m curious how you feel?”
“I was born in America so I’m always proud to represent my country,” she said. ” A lot of us are doing really well. It’s great to see a lot of great athletes on the women’s and men’s side.”
That’s not what Lewis was after, of course, and he went on to ask her about things “sort of in the context of the last year of everything that’s been happening in the U.S., does that complicate that feeling at all?”
The time-frame of the question is not an accident. It was a year ago, Jan. 20, 2025, that President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term. Lewis was clearly trying to get Anisimova to trash Trump — it wasn’t working.
“I don’t think that’s relevant,” Anisimova responded, shutting down the topic.
Amanda Anisimova was asked if what’s been happening in the U.S. over the last year complicates her feelings of playing under the American flag
“I’ve been asking a lot of the American players how it feels to play under the American flag right now. I’m curious how you feel..”… pic.twitter.com/hFMYBT05SE
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 22, 2026
And in that moment, a new Sydney Sweeney was born.
You’d think this would be the only time Lewis tried this gambit, but nope! Here he is with former U.S. Open men’s finalist Taylor Fritz, also a gosh-darned Yanqui imperialist:
Why is @TheAthletic paying a reporter to show up at tennis matches and ask American players if they are ashamed of the country? Watch this. Embarrassing and shameful of @nytimes owned site. pic.twitter.com/UgmsUrB1fL
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 22, 2026
“I mean, not sure what we’re like specifically talking about, but there is a lot going on in the U.S., and I don’t know,” Fritz responded.
“I feel like whatever I say here is going to get put in a headline, and it’s going to get taken out of context. So, I’d really rather not do something that’s going to cause a big distraction for me in the middle of the tournament.”
While Fritz wasn’t willing to call this out, OutKick impresario and radio host Clay Travis was: “Embarrassing and shameful of @nytimes owned site.”
Yeah, he could have at least offered a recipe for buttery Gochujang tofu and broccoli while he was at it, too.
And this, you will not be surprised to learn, was a pattern:
Here are all of Owen Lewis questions to the US players in the Aus Open. Owen secured an accreditation to the Australian Open for the first time this year after he was declined one last year.
He joined the @TheAthletic which is owned by the @nytimes .pic.twitter.com/LQwCt7cTuh
— Pavvy G (@pavyg) January 23, 2026
This is, quite sadly, the perfect summation of the Times in 2026: It’s transitioned to a rag that could plausibly be called Better Homestays and Urban Gardens, but when asked to cover sports, it reverts to brainless 2020 wokeism.
What’s sad is that, when not given over to people like Owen Lewis, The Athletic is (I feel myself retching even having to admit this, but) kind of good at what it does — at least in a sports media landscape where ESPN has become unwatchable and Sports Illustrated unreadable. (And, in some cases, unwritten, at least by a human hand.)
And then The Athletic has this idiot covering the Australian Open and proving that the Gray Lady is Lucy Van Pelt with the football. The New York Times is always gonna New York Times, no matter how much it tries to transition away from its galling tendencies.
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